Hack: A LitRPG Novel (Tower of Gates Book 1)

by Paul Bellow

  “Not yet,” I said, still unsure about the game’s warning.

  Something about his eagerness made me hesitant to trust him.

  “You’re being paranoid,” Sarah said. “He’s helped us a lot.”

  “We can talk about it when we get back to the city,” I said.

  “That’s fine with me,” Benji said. “To be honest, I’m having more fun than I’ve had in years.”

  “Great,” I said. “Let’s get this stuff to the cart.”

  We got to work, transferring the items to the cart. On the third trip, Benji found something I’d missed.

  “It’s a note,” he said, waving it in front of him. “I found it behind that stack of firewood.”

  “Read it,” I said, holding the box of arrowheads.

  “It’s gibberish to me,” he said.

  “Let me see.” Sarah held out her hand and walked over. “Maybe it’s a language I can understand.”

  She took the note from Benji and held it in front of her face.

  “This will take a bit of time to translate,” she said.

  “You love your word-puzzles.” I turned to Benji. “Let’s keep working while she translates the note.”

  “I knew I should’ve paid more attention in school,” he said. “The smart ones always get out of the hard work.”

  “Not all the time,” I said, considering myself smart.

  As Sarah translated the mysterious note, Benji and I transferred the rest of the items to the cart.

  The last item—a massive golden gong, we rolled through the woods.

  “Go slow,” I said. “We don’t want to damage it too much.”

  “Too late for that,” he said then chuckled. “We can always melt it down, but it’s probably not all gold.”

  “We’ll find out once we get to the city,” I said.

  After we positioned it in the cart with the other items, Benji took a deep breath, wiping his forehead with the back of his hand.

  “I’m exhausted,” he said.

  “Let’s get back to the camp and start a fire. We should stay here for the night. You two did a good job hiding the cart.”

  Benji’s face lit up.

  “Thanks,” he said.

  Back at the encampment, we ate next to a huge bonfire, sharing stories and reliving our exploits from earlier in the day. I laughed and remembered all the good times Sarah and I had shared in video games over the years. We made a great team.

  Later that evening, Sarah went into a tent to work on translating the note. I closed my eyes and promptly fell asleep by the fire.

  12

  This New Quest Sounds Too Easy

  SARAH

  I’d decided to sleep on the translation problem the night before.

  When I opened my eyes the next morning, I had a sudden insight. Benji had nodded off on guard duty, but I let it slide to get back to work on the strange note.

  Eric snored next to the fire.

  I read the note to myself as I translated.

  Not much of it made sense.

  Snargao,

  Protect the Cursed Pendant of Visions until we arrive. The future is ours. Magictology will spread throughout all the realms.

  Fail me, and you will face my wrath.

  Magi Inyontoo

  * * *

  Excited at my breakthrough, I woke Benji and Eric.

  “Get up, you two,” I said. “The note’s translated.”

  “Five more minutes,” Eric groaned.

  “Wake up,” I said. “This could be important.”

  Eric rolled over on his back and stared at me.

  “What does it say?” he asked, shielding his eyes from the sun.

  Benji stood. “Is it bad? I bet it’s bad news.”

  As the other two listened, I read the note aloud.

  Benji’s eyes widened.

  “Do you know this Magi person?” I asked.

  He nodded, his shoulders hunched as he rocked back and forth.

  “Who is it?” Eric asked. “Will we be battling him at some point?”

  Benji opened his mouth, but nothing came out.

  “Tell us,” I said.

  He groaned in frustration, then said, “He’s a bad man. We should find and destroy that pendant.”

  New quest?

  “What’s Magictology?” Eric asked.

  Benji frowned and his brow furrowed.

  “It’s a cult,” he said. “The pendant they’re talking about is magical in nature, but it’s cursed. Some say it’s powerful enough to destroy the whole realm.”

  Eric glanced over and raised an eyebrow.

  “We should check this out,” he said.

  As I nodded, a notification screen popped up.

  Main Quest: Destroy Cursed Pendant of Visions

  * * *

  Find and destroy the Cursed Pendant of Visions, and you will clear the first level of the first world in Tower of Gates.

  * * *

  +15,000 xp on Completion!

  First level of the first world? How big is the game?

  “You get that?” I asked, glancing over at Eric.

  He nodded—not breaking out of character.

  “Get what?” Benji asked. “Is there something you two want to tell me? Are you going to start speaking in that magical tongue again?”

  I pursed my lips together.

  Telling him the truth would only confuse him.

  “Nothing,” I said. “Don’t worry about it. Are you coming with us?”

  “I want to,” Benji said. “Especially if it’s in an official capacity.”

  “Nice try, buddy.” Eric smiled. “You’re getting closer.”

  “Either way is fine with me,” our priest replied.

  “Back to the matter at hand,” I said. “How are we going to find this cursed pendant?”

  “All we have to do is follow the smell of fish,” Benji said cryptically.

  “Back in Fishguard?” I asked.

  He shook his head and said, “No. The Cave of Fish Smells. It’s in the mountains north of Mednia, and I’ve heard it’s not a pretty place. That’s one of the few places I’ve not traveled to in the realms.”

  “It’s settled.” Eric got to his feet. “We’re going west to Mednia.”

  “The road should be clear of bandits,” Benji said. “But you never know these days. Are you two giving up on your barbarian friend?”

  “No,” I said. “But destroying this magic item and saving this realm is important. We can keep looking for him along the way.”

  The real reason was that I thought defeating the quest might help us get out of the game, but I kept quiet to avoid the xp penalty.

  “Let’s get everything back to Fishguard and sell it,” Eric said. “We can decide for sure after that’s all done.”

  “Sounds good to me,” Benji said. “Can we eat first?”

  “We’ll have trail rations on the way,” Eric said. “I want to get moving.”

  “Me too,” I said.

  After gathering our belongings, we walked through the trees and back to our hidden cart. Relief washed over me when we found it.

  “Great job on hiding this,” Eric said. “I almost didn’t see it.”

  “That’s all Benji,” I said.

  Our priest grinned, soaking up the praise.

  With loot filling the back, we all three climbed on front. I settled down on the bench between them, chewing on a granola bar.

  “Yah,” Eric yelled.

  I relaxed as the wagon lurched forward. Despite being trapped and not knowing more about Josh, the epic game had swept me up.

  Was it wrong to not think about the real world as much?

  I hated worrying about things I couldn’t change immediately.

  And the grand scale of the Tower of Gates had pulled me in stronger than my first RPG so many years ago.

  How time flies.

  Eric pulled on the reins, stopping the wagon a half-mile down the path.

  �
��Do you hear that?” he asked.

  I tilted my head and heard a distinct buzzing sound.

  “More bees,” I said. “Let me cast some protection.”

  “Good idea,” Eric said then hopped off the cart.

  He pulled out his sword as Benji joined him.

  I cast Glorified Cloaks of Bronze.

  At level three, I could spend fourteen mana to increase the armor of a person by seven points. While that would help a bit, I didn’t want to blow all my mana on defense. I put twelve mana of protection on Eric and six on Benji.

  Golden energy swirled over the top of their armor and clothes.

  I was left with forty six mana for offensive spells.

  “Aren’t you going to protect yourself?” Eric asked.

  “I’m saving it for offense,” I said. “Just keep me safe.”

  He grinned. I realized then how much he was loving the game.

  The buzzing sound got louder.

  “Do you think the whole hive will come after us?” Benji asked.

  He held his mace aloft with one hand and ate a biscuit with the other.

  “We’ve got bees,” I yelled, pointing down the path.

  Three giant bees barreled through the air toward us.

  Here we go again, I thought. We’ve got this.

  Benji and Eric charged down the path toward the bees. I let loose another twelve-mana worth of Golden Bolts. The magical energy shot toward a giant bee.

  Your Golden Bolts WOUND the giant bee for 18 damage!

  The giant bee is dead.

  You have [18/64] mana remaining.

  The creature fell with a thump to the trail below while the other two continued forward. Eric and Benji stopped, preparing to defend.

  “Don’t get poisoned again,” I yelled, unable to resist.

  A bee broke away, flew higher then dove down toward me.

  Not so fast, busy bee.

  Your Golden Bolts MAUL the giant bee for 21 damage!

  The giant bee is dead.

  You have [6/64] mana remaining.

  “Got him,” Benji yelled.

  I looked over to see the final bee fall to the ground.

  Combat is Over!

  You get 1,200 xp divided by two party members.

  You get 600 xp!

  You have 8,855 xp

  You need 5,145 xp for Level Four Mage

  Eric wiped his blade off on the body of a bee.

  “I still say we should take those hives back to the city and sell them,” he said. “Or look for Royal Jelly.”

  “Honey doesn’t have magical properties,” Benji said, shaking his head. “Why don’t you two ever listen to me? You both think you know everything.”

  I warily watched as he paced back and forth in front of our cart.

  “Whoa,” Eric said. “Calm down, buddy.”

  “I’m not your buddy,” he snapped. “I’m just your hireling. Remember? You two are likely to get me killed, but you know what? I don’t care.”

  He stormed off and kicked one of the lifeless bees.

  Eric stepped closer.

  “We’ve upset him,” he said.

  “No kidding. Maybe we should let him in the party.”

  “What if this is all an act to get us to let him into the party?” He kept staring at Benji. “It could all be a trap.”

  “You’re being paranoid again,” I said.

  Benji turned and walked back.

  “Sorry, guys. There’s a lot going on, and…”

  He bowed his head as his voice trailed off.

  “Don’t worry about it,” I said. “We appreciate you.”

  “Yeah,” Eric added in a flat tone.

  “We should keep going,” Benji said. “If we want to sell this stuff in the city later today, we should go now.”

  None of us mentioned anything about officially letting him into our party on the way back, though I agree with Eric.

  We needed to be safe.

  A few uneventful hours later, we rolled up to the city. The sun had begun its descent, but we still had some daylight left.

  “We should celebrate tonight,” Eric said.

  “No,” I said, shaking my head. “We need to stay on task. Find the barbarian and this pendant so we can destroy it and save the realms.”

  Eric nodded, his lips pursed together.

  “Fine,” he said. “We can leave first thing in the morning.”

  As we approached, a guard near the gate called out.

  “Stop,” he said. “I need to talk with you three.”

  Uh oh, I thought to myself, fearing the worst.

  Eric stopped the mule.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked.

  “Nothing,” the guard said. “But I have a question.”

  “Go on,” I said.

  The armored man turned to the guard shack behind him.

  “Alexander,” he yelled. “Come here, boy.”

  The small boy we had rescued came out of the compact wood building. He sheepishly walked over, avoiding eye contact.

  “This boy here says you three saved him the other day,” the guard said. “Is that true or is the orphan a liar?”

  “It’s the truth,” I said, staring at the boy. “He disappeared on us.”

  “Tell them you’re sorry, Alexander,” the guard said.

  “I’m sorry,” the boy said, eyes facing downward as he kicked the dirt with his foot.

  “That’s okay,” I said. “We were worried, that’s all.”

  “My name’s Randall,” the guard said. “I’m adopting the boy, but I wanted to make sure he wasn’t lying.”

  I smiled, loving that the game’s NPCs dealt with issues like adoption.

  “We should get going,” Benji said. “Especially if we want to leave tonight.”

  “You guys are leaving again already?” Randall asked.

  I nodded and said, “We’re going to Mednia. Apparently, tonight.”

  “Good luck,” Randall said. “You’ll be missed.”

  “You know what,” Eric said. “I’ve got something for you.”

  He jumped out of the cart and walked around to the back.

  What’s he doing? I wondered, stretching around.

  A moment later, he returned with an armful of gnoll swords.

  “I’d like to give these to you,” Eric said. “They’re not much, but you can sell them or something.”

  “Are you kidding?” Randall asked. “Some of these are antiques. I’ve not seen a sword like this since the Great Wars.”

  He picked a blade up and waved it through the air.

  “You deserve something for helping the boy,” Eric said.

  “I was just doing what was right,” he said. “But I love the gift.”

  Eric smiled as he piled a half-dozen blades on the ground.

  “We’ll be back through in a few hours,” I said.

  As Eric climbed back into the cart, I remembered why we’d spent so much time together. Beneath his no-care exterior, he cared a lot.

  “That was nice,” I said as we rolled down the main street.

  “Not a biggie,” Eric said. “I figured it would help him out raising that boy.”

  “This...”

  I stopped myself before I said the word game and gave myself another OOC penalty. We needed all the xp we could get.

  He grinned and nodded in a knowing way.

  “You two are acting strange again,” Benji said.

  “Don’t worry,” Eric said. “You’re getting paid today.”

  “Great,” Benji said. “I need to settle a debt or two before we leave Fishguard. Do you two mind?”

  “Not at all,” Eric said. “How about half the silver pieces in the box?”

  “For my payment?” Benji asked, obviously shocked at the offer.

  “Yeah,” I said. “You deserve it.”

  “It’s settled.” Eric kept his eyes on the road. “The silver is yours.”

  “Can you drop me at the inn while you
guys get supplies?” I asked.

  “Sure,” Eric said. “Why?”

  “We paid for a week of the room,” I said. “And I want to see if we can get some of our money back.”

  “Okay,” he said. “I think it’s over here...”

  “The other way,” Benji said.

  I wasn’t entirely lying about why I wanted to go back, but the gold wasn’t as big a concern as investigating the basement. Something about the evil presence watching had stuck with me. I wanted to check it out more before we left the city.

  The cart pulled up to the Inn, and I hopped out.

  “We’ll be back in an hour or so,” Eric said.

  “Sounds good,” I said then waved.

  As they pulled away, I walked into the two-story wood building. Basil looked up from the bar and excitedly waved me over.

  I forced a smile and headed toward him.

  “You’re back,” he said in a cheerful tone.

  I stopped in front of the bar, hands at my sides.

  “Yes,” I said. “But I’ve got bad news.”

  “Oh?”

  “We’re leaving this evening,” I said.

  The innkeeper’s smile faded.

  “Why?” he asked. “I’ll match any price in the city.”

  “It’s not the price,” I said. “We’re going for business matters.”

  He nodded solemnly.

  “I hate to hear that,” he said.

  “While I have you, I meant to ask about the bath in the basement. Did anyone go downstairs after me yesterday morning?”

  I carefully studied his face.

  “Not that I recall,” he said. “Why?”

  “I thought I felt someone watching me.”

  His eyes narrowed as he maintained eye contact.

  “You should’ve mentioned it yesterday,” he said. “I might’ve remembered something.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” I said. “Probably nothing. Anyway, can we get back some of the gold we put down for the entire week?”

  “Sorry,” Basil said. “Can’t do it when times are this tough.”

  “I understand,” I said. “Do you mind if I check out the basement?”

  “Go ahead,” he said. “You’re paid up for the week.”